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Sweeney Is Happy With the Leftovers

SAN FRANCISCO, July 29 — The players stood on the top step of the dugout, applauding. The fans rose from their seats, screaming. The man in the middle of it all, approaching one of baseball’s hallowed records, lifted his cap and waved to the crowd.

Everyone who came to AT&T Park this weekend to witness history had something to celebrate after all, because Mark Sweeney moved into second place on the career pinch-hit list.

So it might not have been Barry Bonds taking over first place on the career home run list, but on Friday night, after Sweeney passed Manny Mota with his 151st pinch-hit, he received the full Bonds treatment — hugs, kisses, mementos and a two-minute standing ovation.

No one seemed to care that Sweeney remained a lot further behind Lenny Harris than Bonds was behind Hank Aaron. Bonds has 754 career home runs, one shy of Aaron’s record, but Sweeney has little hope of catching Harris, who has 212 pinch-hits.

“I am really in a daze,” Sweeney said. “It is a very emotional time right now.”

It would be just as emotional for Sweeney without Bonds, although probably not for anybody else. With Bonds in the ballpark, the pursuit of every record, no matter how trivial, somehow becomes more significant.

Sweeney has seen the good and bad sides of playing with Bonds. For the Giants, 2007 started with a report that Bonds tested positive for amphetamines in 2006 and that he blamed Sweeney for giving them to him. In a statement the day after the report was published, Bonds apologized to Sweeney and said he had not given him “anything whatsoever.”

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Mark Sweeney, hitting a game-tying double in the ninth Saturday, moved into second place on the career pinch-hit list Friday with 151.Credit
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Now, the Giants are honoring both players simultaneously.

Few bench warmers have received as much attention as Sweeney. If not for Bonds, he never would have had to answer uncomfortable questions about amphetamines during spring training. He might also not be receiving curtain calls for pinch-hits.

With their team out of the pennant race, Giants fans are coming to the ballpark to see individual accomplishments. Clearly, Bonds is the big draw. But Sweeney, with his well-timed pinch-hits, seems to be receiving the leftover love.

“I know it’s a small thing, a minor thing,” Sweeney said. “But people here have been really great about it. And I’m sure what Barry is doing had added to that.”

Sweeney collected his 152nd career pinch-hit Saturday night, with a game-tying double in the bottom of the ninth. Afterward, he stood on second base with both arms raised over his head, the same pose Bonds would strike after game-winning home runs.

As Sweeney jogged to the bench, after being pulled for a pinch-runner, he received his second standing ovation in two days. Bonds hugged him in the dugout. Shortstop Omar Vizquel, who gave him a peck on the cheek Friday night, settled for a high-five.

Sweeney has played 13 seasons in the majors, almost all of them as a pinch-hitting specialist. He says he still feels a bit angry when he checks the lineup card and does not see his name, but he has embraced his role, because it is the one he has been given.

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“I just kind of embraced having a uniform on,” Sweeney said. “I was that guy who wanted one day in the big leagues.”

Sweeney decided early on that his role model would be Mota, a pinch-hit pioneer who held the career record at the time. Sweeney had Mota sign a baseball for him, along with the inscription that every pinch-hitter lives by: “Don’t ever take the third strike.”

At 37, Sweeney is not the kind of player the Giants will build around. Rather, he is the kind who is spun off at the trade deadline. A contender looking for a left-handed hitter on its bench could probably acquire Sweeney for a fringe prospect.

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Otherwise, Sweeney will stay with Bonds in San Francisco, trying to steal a little more of the limelight while avoiding all the controversy.

Sweeney may have reason to resent Bonds, but he is a bench player, and bench players are not supposed to criticize their superstar teammates. So Sweeney watches his words, defends Bonds at all times and protects his roster spot.

When the amphetamines report surfaced, Sweeney said that he did not blame Bonds and had no problem with him. Six months later, Sweeney said he was rooting for Bonds, and not only because the home runs were bringing more attention to the pinch-hits.

“I’m just thrilled to be here and watch what Barry is doing,” Sweeney said. “It’s history.”